Railway journal dust guard seal



y 1968 J. J. HENNESSY, JR 3,383,145

RAILWAY JOURNAL DUST GUARD SEAL Filed Aug. 19, 1966 tlll Ill 4; FIGI.

INVENTOR HENNESSY, JR.

JAMES J.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,383,145 RAILWAY JOURNAL DUST GUARD SEAL James J. Hennessy, Jr., Chambersburg, Pa., assignor to Hennessy Lubricator Co., Inc., Chambersburg, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 432,533,

Feb. 15, 1965. This application Aug. 19, 1966, Ser.

7 Claims. (Cl. 308--80) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A seal between a railway axle dry seat and a journal box mounted on the axle journal characterized in a stationary stiff body plate with a relatively large opening for play of the axle in the box, there being a thin diaphragm between the stiff body and the dry seat readily flexible transversely of the body plate and having a circular ring about its inner periphery which is relatively stiff and preferably includes an inwardly projecting rib also flexible transversely of the body plate.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of an earlier application filed Feb. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 432,533, now abandoned.

The invention relates to railway axle journal boxes of the Association of American Railways (AAR) type, and more particularly to the oil and dust seal provided between the axle and the journal box. The invention is an improvement in earlier structures of which Patent 3,096,- 987 is an example.

Among the objects of the invention are to utilize a single plate-like body apertured to receive the axle and provided with a flexible member extending inwardly of the plate aperture and having inner peripheral elements contacting the axle and spaced apart lengthwise of the latter to effectively wipe the axle surface and thereby better baffle oil and dirt attempting to pass the seal; the outer edge of the plate having elements in contact with the front and rear walls of the dust guard pocket in the journal box and a portion of the seal between its outer periphery and inner periphery being flexible to accommodate axial and transverse movement of the axle in the journal box, thus avoiding undue distortion of the contact elements and contributing to maintaining concentricit-y of the axle and the contact elements throughout an extended useful life of the seal.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating selected embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through an AAR journal box mounted on an axle journal and fitted with one embodiment of the improved seal.

FIG. 2 is a detail section corresponding to the upper portion of the seal and box pocket therefor shown in FIG. 1 but drawn to an enlarged scale.

FIG. 3 is a section through the inner portion of the seal when slightly distorted by an undersized axle dry seat.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of the seal looking in the direction of arrow 4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation of the seal looking in the direction of arrow 5 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a detail section corresponding to the upper portion of FIG. 2 but illustrating a modified form of the seal body outer marginal portion and the associated gasket.

The axle shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a wheel seat 11, onto which the wheel 12 is pressed, a dry seat 13 extending into the journal box, and a journal 14 provided with a larger diameter collar 15. A hearing 16, including a lining 17, rests upon the journal and carries a wedge 3,383,145 Patented May 14, 1968 18 which supports the journal box having a top wall 19, spaced apart inner and outer Walls 20, 21 at its inner end, side walls 22 and a bottom wall 23, the forward portion of which curves upwardly and outwardly to form an end wall 24.

The space between walls 20 and 21 forms a pocket 25 for the oil and dust seal which preferably comprises a singleupright body plate 31 of stiff, but not necessarily rigid, material having an outer contour, corresponding generally to the box pocket contour, and characterized by a peripheral flange 32 of less width then the width of the pocket. Flange 32 carries a strip 33 of packing material which is wider than the flange so as to have pressure engagement with pocket walls 20, 21.

Body plate 31 is apertured at 35 to permit free passage therethrough of the journal and collar 15 as the axle and box are assembled. Attached to plate 31 and projecting inwardly from the periphery of the aperture is an annular diaphragm sheet 37 secured to plate 31 by a stiff annulus 38 and staples 39 and the sheet is substantially more flexible than plate 31 so as to readily distort as indicated at 40 (FIG. 2). The inner periphery of the sheet includes a ring 41 of cylindrical cross section. A ri-b 42 integral with the ring projects from the ring and is tapered to a thin edge 43 having an inner periphery of less diameter than the ring so as to contact with axle dry seat 13 and distort as shown in FIG. 2. This construction provides contacts between the seal and the dry seat spaced apart lengthwise of the axle which serve to wipe any oil tending to move along the axle to the exterior of the box and to direct such oil toward the journal or toward the oil supply pad 44.

When the seal is in use the axle may reciprocate axially in the journal box without stress on plate 31. Any movement of the axle in the journal box transversely of the journal axis is readily accommodated by the flexing of sheet 37 in the area indicated at 40. If the dry seat 9 is undersize, the inwardly projecting fin baffles the outward flow of oil along the dry seat, as shown in FIG. 3, even if ring 41 does not contact the dry seat.

In the form shown in FIG. 6 the body plate 44, diaphragm sheet 47, annulus 48, staples 49, ring 51, rib 52 are substantially the same as the corresponding parts described above, but the plate flange 45 is not as wide as flange 32 of plate 31 and the packing strip 53 extends forwardly of flange 45 and includes a rearwardly facing channel receiving the flange between its legs. Staples 54 secure the strip direct to the channel legs and the outer portions of the staples indent the strip and do not contact the opposing side and bottom walls of the box pocket in which the seal is inserted.

Packing strip 53 is of sufiicient thickness to be pressed into sealing contact with pocket front wall 20 but the rear edge of the strip is offset from the rear face of plate 41 and does not have sealing contact with the wall, hence water may drain between the wall and the plate to the bottom of the pocket and along the dry seat to the exterior of the box.

In the form shown in FIG. 6 it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the seal is well adapted for attaining the objectives set forth in the introductory portion of the specification and, because of its simplicity, is superior to seals having multiple parts or heavy masses of material engaging the dry seat or involving a plurality of plates which are spring-pressed into contact with the journal box walls to produce a sealing effect. The seal does not require machining of the box walls because, once installed, it is unnecessary for the seal to slide over the box walls as the journal plays in the box transversely of the journal axis.

The described structure is simpler in construction and of lower cost than previous journal box rear seals. The device avoids the necessity of a separate plug or wedge to close the open top of the box pocket to prevent entrance of water. Any water tending to seep between the seal body plate and the rear wall of the pocket may drain to the bottom of the pocket opening and escape therefrom beneath the axle. The device is effective for its intended purpose irrespective of the use of journal stops or a flat back bearing to limit relative movement of the box and journal transversely of the journal axis.

The details of the structure may be varied otherwise than as illustrated without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway journal box dust guard and oil seal device comprising a stiff body plate provided with an outer edge having a contour corresponding to the contour of a railway journal box pocket to which the device is to be applied, said plate having an opening large enough to accommodate substantial transverse free play therein of the dry seat of an axle mounting the box, a thin annular sheet having an outer marginal portion secured direct to one face of said body plate, and said sheet extending parallel to the plane of said portion and inwardly of said opening with its part being flexible transversely of said plate inwardly of said opening and provided near its inner margin with a relatively stiff ring spaced a substantial distance from the inner edge of said plate opening and having an inside diameter slightly smaller than the dry seat of the axle to which the device is to be applied, there being a relatively thin continuous rib projecting inwardly from the inner periphery of the ring toward the axis of the ring.

2. A railway journal box dust guard and oil seal device according to claim 1 which includes a packing strip of yielding material along the upper outer margin of the body plate and projecting transversely thereof from the opposite face of the plate to contact the wall of a journal box pocket in which the device is inserted.

3. A railway journal box dust guard and oil seal device according to claim 1 which includes a packing strip of yielding material along the upper outer margin of the body plate and projecting forwardly and rearwardly of the plate so as to contact both the front and rear walls of a journal box pocket in which the device is inserted.

4. A railway journal box dust guard and oil seal device according to claim 1 in which the body plate has a forwardly directed flange on its upper margin and a packing strip of yielding material extends along the upper outer margin of the body plate and has a rearwardly opening channel receiving said flange.

5. A railway journal box dust guard and oil seal device according to claim 4 in which said face of the body plate has a forwardly directed flange substantially throughout its margin and the packing strip has a rearwardly opening channel substantially throughout its length and receiving said flange.

6. In combination, a railway axle having a journal and an adjacent dry seat, a journal box supported by the journal and including a pocket at one end having upright front and rear walls with apertures to receive the axle and of substantially larger diameter than said dry seat, a seal between said dry seat and said pocket walls comprising an upright rigid plate-like body in said pocket having a correspondingly large diameter central opening, said body including an outer marginal peripheral portion, a peripheral band of yielding packing material mounted on said marginal portion and thrust against one of said walls, a flexible diaphragm of rubber-like material secured to said body and extending therefrom inwardly of the body opening toward the axle, the inner portion of said diaphragm being provided with a relatively stiff annular ring of round cross section spaced substantially from the edge of the opening in said plate and having an inner periphery contacting the dry seat, said ring having a continuous rib projecting inwardly from said ring with its inner edge contacting the dry seat at a point spaced from the contact between the ring and the dry seat for trapping oil, water or other matter moving along the dry seat.

7. A combination as described in claim 6 in which the band of packing material is thrust against both of the pocket front and rear walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,789,845 4/ 1957 Klinger 277132 3,003,799 10/1961 Marchionda et a1. 277-132 3,028,203 4/1962 Lund et al. 308187.1 3,096,987 7/1963 Hennessy 277- FOREIGN PATENTS 704,905 3/1931 France.

EVERETTE A. POWELL, 111., Primary Examiner. 

